-Barasuishou pov-

I'd been lying on the floor for a very long time. It was cold, dark and rather miserable.

"Hello?" a muffled voice came. I sat bolt upright and looked around. A small light was on one of the nearest walls. I staggered towards it and saw it was a communication link between the darkness and the room where Enju and Rozen where.

"Hello?" I cried desperately

"Bara? Bara is that you?" a familiar voice called through the link

"Yes! Yes it's me Souseiseki!"

"Thank goodness you're ok! I was worried."

"So was I" I said trying not to cry. The wall was suddenly alive with pictures and lights from the room where Enju, Rozen and Souseiseki were. I felt tears roll down my cheeks as I started to realise I wasn't alone. The doll I could call a friend had come to my rescue again. I wanted to tell her how grateful but… Enju was there and knowing him he would take all the praise himself, he probably thought I was crying because he was there. I wiped my eyes on my sleeve and said "how did you get this to work?"

"Laplace's demon knew how to get it to work two ways but refused to explain how it works… that demon was more trouble than he was worth really but listen we have a big problem." I looked Souseiseki in the eyes, they weren't the eyes of the brave girl I had known here, they were full of fear "as well as getting this to work Laplace also locked us in here. He sent Hinaichigo to the world where Alice is as a distraction and brought me here to bait my sister, Suiseiseki. If she falls for it she and the others could be pulled into a huge battle with the Demon himself… Father says he's really rather powerful". Souseiseki was right to be worried. As the referee of the Alice game Laplace had been kept in line by the mere fact the games where happening and that he had a purpose. With the games over he had two choices, become a trickster to hinder Alice and father or start the Alice game again… whichever he was choosing there was no doubt he had the power to do it. "There's another problem Bara…" Souseiseki's voice trembled as she said this. "He stole your body." She looked at me with tears in her eyes "he put Alice's key in my pocket and ran off with your body when I entered the room and father and Enju got distracted… I'm so sorry, it's all my fault…"

"No…" I said quietly "it's not your fault." I said shaking… If Enju didn't have my body it was possible Laplace could use it as leverage to bribe Enju, Souseiseki or even the youngest of the Rozen maidens Kirakishou… If she got rejected from Alice that is. She would need a host body after all.

"You're taking this very well my dear" Enju said from the back of the room looking through a pile of roses and flowers

"That's because I trust you two to get my body back… I just need both of you to promise me something…" I took a deep breath as I knew neither would take this well "If he offers you my body back in return for something you desperately need or makes unreasonable demands… just say no. I don't care what he offers."

"You can't just make us promise something like that!" Souseiseki shouted

"Please… for me…" I said desperately trying to plead with the stubborn doll

"You can't ask us to just abandon you"

"That's exactly what I'm asking you to do." Souseiseki wiped a tear from her eye "please?"

"… ok…"

"thank you…" I sighed a sigh of relief at her answer and turned my attention to Enju "Having fun looking through compost Enju?" I said not even trying to hide any venom in my voice

"ha ha Bara" Enju fake laughed. He seemed like he was about to give a sarcastic response back but stopped himself when he realised that Souseiseki was glaring at him. He went back to searching through the flowers.

"I'm assuming those where from the Demon?"

"Yes Bara, yes they are." Father walked into view of the pictures "He said that he had left something important in there for us to find. It's such a large pile of flowers we are taking turns searching through it so we do not exhaust ourselves.

"It's my turn next. But before I do I have a very important task for you Bara" Souseiseki turned to face me again "as you know each maiden has their own darkness to got to when they sleep. These darknesses can move about and under certain conditions the maiden inside it can control were this darkness drifts to within the dream world."

"Yes I understand that much."

"Well since the Alice game ended the other darknesses have been made stationary all connected to Alice's darkness. Like balloons held together by strings. All of them are connected to Alice… Except for yours as you were not made part of Alice."

"Yes… I understand but what use will this be?"

"You have to find either my twin Suiseiseki or the second doll Kanaria. They are the next two who are the most likely to be ejected from Alice. Find them and tell them whats happening. If you do that you may be able to help them stop themselves from ejecting. They can also keep an eye out for Hinaichigo and Laplace's demon incase anything else happens. I might be able to set up links to talk to them too so we can have as many eyes on the situation as possible! You can help us put this situation right." My eyes widened. I had a chance to at least in part make up for the hurt I had caused them during the Alice game. I stood silent for a moment considering what I said next. I was obviously going to help them… but I have no idea how to move my darkness…

"… I don't know how this will work… but I'm willing to help" I grinned up at Souseiseki and she smiled back as she started talking me through how to move my darkness.

-Lillians pov-

After Hina had been prised off of Nori we agreed Hina would stay with Nori all day hiding under her desk or in her draw (she only just about fit!). It was nearly time for homeroom but I had to go see my maths teacher about some work so I left them to catch up together. Most of the other students had started gathering in the hallways and classrooms and it was getting crowded. I got shoved and moved around a lot. There was finally some more breathing room as I got closer to the Maths block. But before I could get to my maths classroom…

"Oi! Gum girl!" The boys who had stuck gum in my hair appeared "you're gonna be late for homeroom if you don't leave here quickly."

"I've already talked to my teacher and me being tardy or not is none of your business" I said reaching for the door handle of the room. Before I could open it one of the boys grabbed my hair and pulled me away "ow that hurt!"

"Isn't it my role as a fellow student to push you in the right direction?" a small group of girls had also joined the gang. One of the gits grabbed my hair again another boy tugged at my sleeve and they pushed me in the path way of a flight of stairs. The leader of the group who had been talking to me grabbed the neck of my shirt and pulled my face uncomfortably close to his "and I do mean push literally" and with those words he pushed me down the stairs. Time seemed to slow down. I heard the group laughing amongst each other calling names after me. I grabbed my head so I wouldn't get hurt too badly if I hit it on a stair and prayed this was a short flight of stairs. I felt my back and legs land against the stairs and eventually I hit the wall at the back of the stairwell. I was dizzy and struggling to hold onto consciousness after hitting the wall so hard. I managed to pull myself up and run down the corridor. I knew the route from there to get to the gardens out the back of the school. I didn't want to think because my head was filled with their laughing voices. My legs hurt and my back felt like I shouldn't be able to walk let alone run. I eventually managed to get to the door towards the gardens. I bolted through it and ran to the far end of the springtime gardens. There right at the back tucked away in a small area of cherry blossom trees was a pond. I knelt next to it and collapsed onto my side. Out of breath and crying my eyes out I lay there in agony. I had had a weak back as a child and was warned any sudden impacts could paralyse me more easily than other children. So this was about my limit, I was at breaking point and I just wanted to go home. I wanted to curl up in bed and talk to Alice. I wanted this to all go away… I just wanted Alice to be there again for me like she had been before. Alice… why won't you wake up?

"Oh dear… If you had told me this was happening I would have been there to help you sooner" a gentle voice came from the pond. I forced myself up so I could look into the ponds cool water and there, staring back at me, was Alice.